Two recent studies suggest that the Mediterranean diet may be an antidepressant diet as well as the diet that reduces heart disease, inflammation, and the risk of dementia. In the SMILES trial 65 patients with depression were randomized to a Mediterranean diet based intervention (a diet support group) or a social support group. The group excluded people who were treatment …
Nutrition and Diet Update
Nutrition and Diet Update We recently updated the overall guidelines in our healthy diet page to incorporate information from the largest study today looking at diet and its effect on overall mortality. It’s worth summarizing both the strengths and weaknesses of this study which was published in two articles in the Lancet. It is the largest study to date. Nearly 140,000 …
“Biggest Loser” Misunderstandings
Last week on most everybody in my practice who has ever struggled with weight loss came in talking about the widely reported results of a follow-up study to the TV show “Biggest Loser.” And almost everybody’s conclusion from the media coverage was that it seemed the media was suggesting that it was a waste of time trying to lose weight. Most …
MIND Diet Prevents Cognitive Decline
Researchers at Rush University have developed a diet (the MIND diet) that appears to be associated with significantly reduced cognitive decline in aging. The diet was developed from three sources of information: the Mediterranean diet (as elsewhere on this blog), the DASH diet for the prevention of hypertension, and a review of the literature on the effects of specific dietary …
MAOI Diet Update
MAOI diet information on the Internet can be very confusing for someone just starting one of these antidepressant medications. Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) are medications that inhibit the action of the enzyme monoamine oxidase. breaks down the three chemicals in the brain which may be deficient in people with depression: norepinephrine, serotonin, and dopamine. Almost all antidepressants in use today work, …
Mediterranean Diet Anti Aging Effect
The Mediterranean Diet appears to have an anti aging effect in a just published study. The study, in the December 2014 edition of the British Medical Journal, found that the Mediterranean Diet was associated with telomere length, a biological marker of aging. Telomeres are DNA sequences at the end of chromosomes that protect the chromosomes from damage and allow healthy cell …